VermiHarvester

I have designed and built an inexpensive VermiHarvester out of a five-gallon plastic pail, a plastic pipe, some scrap plywood and some 1/8" welded wire mesh hardware cloth. Some of these photos are of early attempts that finally led to the current design.

(Helpful Advice:
When you overlap the hardware cloth, be sure that the overlapping edges are on top. or the same side as the large filler hole. Overlaps on the bottom will fill with finely screened material and block the free passage of finished vermicompost)

You might need to click on the bottom left of this to see the slideshow. 



Put about a gallon of the dried material in the hole while it is in the upper position, then rock the VermiHarvester back and forth until you can spin it all the way around, slowly, without spilling the stuff back out of the hole. As you turn it, the lovely fine VermiCompost drops through the screen for packaging or using. The few stubborn worms and larger particles are still inside, so lowering the hole end by reversing the positions of the shaft ends reverses the motion and empties the drum into your waiting pail to be returned to the VermiChester system.

The original design required lifting the harvester to reverse the flow, but the improved end supports merely require an easy movement of the shaft ends.

VermiHarvester end supports:
You will see two end supports for the VermiHarvester system in the photos. They are made from scraps from the construction of a VermiChester unit. The vertical supports are 16 1/2" above a 3/4" thick plywood base. Center the 1-1/4" holes at the tops and put the lower holes 6" lower with openings to the outside. That provides the slope I prefer.

This is also included as an Appendix in both books.